


Babysitter Troubles

by moonlight_petal



Series: We are family verse [9]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Babysitter Riley, Family Feels, Fluff, Gen, Jack definitely is Riley's dad, Mac and Jack get called for Military duties, Team as Family, blackmail pictures, helpless Riley, upset David, very upset David
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-06-23 23:56:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19712131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonlight_petal/pseuds/moonlight_petal
Summary: Mac and Jack get summoned by the Military to fulfil the last wishes of a fellow soldier.While Bozer is busy at the Phoenix, Riley takes on babysitter duties for David and quickly runs into problems.





	Babysitter Troubles

**Author's Note:**

> First things first, sorry to anyone who has been waiting for a new part in this series, I hadn't planned to vanish like that but real life and going back to work after being on leave for so long turned into quite the mess that robbed me of the ability to write in a way. This part took me several weeks now to finish.  
> I hope it came out well enough and doesn't seem choppy because of that.
> 
> Secondly, the reason for Mac and Jack's absence was heavily inspired by one of the newer episodes of Hawaii 5-0 where Junior is called up for the same reason. I have basically no knowledge of the US Army and their ranks so sorry if I completely botched those. I read up on it while writing but yeah, no clue if it makes sense.
> 
> And lastly, well I'm no mother myself, so I might have pushed the limits of what's realistic for kids David's age a little, sorry if that bothers anyone. I do try to keep it close to reality child developement-wise but it worked better this way.
> 
> Alright, have fun (hopefully!)

_**Afghanistan, 2013** _

_**Somewhere outside of Kabul** _

_"On your left, kid... phew, that was a little closer for comfort than I intended..." Mac heared Jack ramble through his earpiece. He didn't even move a muscle when a body dropped to the left of him. Somewhere at the back of his mind he agreed with Jack that it had been a little closer than normal but he couldn't afford to actually react to that at the moment, busy diffusing the bomb in front of him. A bomb that trapped a handful of fellow soldiers in a house, all young recruits who had arrived not long before._

_"How's it going, Mac? I'm getting the feeling we're attracting too much attention here..." Jack asked again, lining up another shot, this time -Mac at least suspected- somewhere to his right._

_"Give me a minute... this thing is a little more complex than our usual IEDs, but it shouldn't be a lot longer." Mac replied, carefully seperating several wires._

_"Alright, I can do that... just get it done, alright? I promised to get you home in one piece and I managed that for quite some time now, don't you mess up right before our return home..." the older soldier started rambling again. It had started a few weeks before, Jack's countdown to their return to the States. This time for real as he said. Mac tuned him out with a smile as he cut the last wires._

_"Got it..." the blond announced and got to his feet, slowly he opened the door to let out the soldiers. "All good, you can come out now..." he waved them out._

_"Good job, kid. I'll meet you in a minute, stay with them." Jack said, quickly disassembling his rifle._

_Mac waited with the slightly shocked guys. Most of them weren't even active soldiers, Mac recognised at least three who came to help out in the medical tent or with all the paperwork stuff. He didn't have to see that Jack appeared behind him, the way the others suddenly straightened up before their Sergeant was telling enough._

_"Ready to bounce?"_

_"Sure, let's go..."_

_They were barely outside the small settlement when the group of soldiers suddenly froze on the spot in front of Mac and Jack. Jack had chosen to go last to scan their surroundings better and keep an eye on anyone following them and Mac of course stayed by his Overwatch's side._

_"What's the matter now? Why are you stopping?" Jack asked, a slight frown on his face but Mac could read the wide eyed fear in the eyes of the others._

_"Who was it?" he asked, stepping closer while taking out his knife, already scanning the dirt at their feet._

_"Me..." a dark haired guy said, who didn't look much older than 18._

_"Crap..." Jack mumbled behind Mac and the soft clicking of the safety told the blond that his Overwatch had taken position again, while the other soldiers huddled around them._

_"Alright, I need you to stay still and calm, can you do that for me? And the others, please give us some space, alright?" Mac could hear the panicked breathing above him. "What's your name?"_

_"Tyler Johnson, sir." the younger man croaked. "Private 1st Class Tyler Johnson."_

_"Alright, Tyler, forget about the sir, okay? I'm Mac. Just stay still, trust me, I've got this..." Mac smiled at him encouragingly, before he got to work._

_"Thank you so much!" the Private said with utter relief in his voice after Mac had made short work of the mine the younger man had stepped on._

_"Just doing my job, Private. Now, let's get you back, yeah?" Mac grinned and together they made it back to camp safely without further interruptions._

~*~

**Los Angeles, 2019**

**Mac's dungeon... lab, I mean lab!**

_< War Room. ASAP!>_

Mac blinked in surprise at his mobile phone.

"Uh-oh... did we get into trouble without noticing, little man? What did we do to make Grandma Matty mad? Huh?" the blond looked at his son, who stood right in front of the fence his father had built to keep him inside his play area.

"Da-da...." David just squealed in response when Mac stepped closer and took him in his arms.

"Yeah... I think so too, let's get upstairs, huh? See what this is about."

They took the elevator up where Mac let David gently down on his own feet again. His son didn't walk very far yet, distance wise, but he now had mastered the skill well enough to run along the short hallway to the war room on his own even without the walking bike, Jack had given him.

"You too, eh? And I thought I'm alone in the doghouse again because I still haven't finished the report of our last mission..." Jack grinned at the blond man when he rounded the corner from the direction of the shooting range.

"Well, you might just be in the doghouse for that on your own but if you're referring to Matty calling to the war room, then yes, she called me too. David!" He called the small blond boy. He didn't have to say more than that, his son's head flew back and his eyes widened in joy when he laid eyes on Jack.

"Papa~" he yelled and came running back to them like a small blond lightning bolt.

"Hey there munchkin!" Jack smiled, ready as always to catch the boy and throw him in the air much to David's amusement.

"The windows are frosted too that really doesn't bode well for us..." Jack joked when they reached their destination.

"Agreed, something is up... hey Matty, what's-" Mac began as he entered the room first, looking directly at the stern face of his boss before his eyes found the two other occupants of the room. Instinctively Mac's back straighened when he saw the two older uniformed men.

Behind him Jack did exactly the same, settling David gently back to his feet, before he automatically assumed a position of attention.

David, quickly picking up on the suddenly tense mood around him, stayed right where he was put, softly grabbing at the pants legs left and right of him.

"Mac, Jack... these gentlemen have an urgent message for you." Matty spoke for the first time and then nodded at their guests to take the lead.

"Sergeant Dalton, Specialist MacGyver, Sergeant Donagan and I come to you on behalf of Specialist Tyler Johnson.We regret to inform you that Specialist Johnson was recently killed in action while honourably performing his duties for our country, saving many lives in the process. It was Specialist Johnson's last wish, should the need arise, that you would accompany his body home, to be laid to rest by his family." the elder of the two soldiers, Sergeant Major Daniels, explained to them. "Will you accept this assignment?"

At the news of a fellow brother in arms killed in action, Mac and Jack both took deep breaths.

"Sergeant Major Daniels, sir, I think I speak for us both when I say, it will be our honour." Jack immediately replied, sharply saluting the soldier.

"I agree, of course it's an honour for us to bring him home. But if you excuse the question, why us? I do remember a Private Tyler Johnson from back in the day, might that be the same one?"

Jack wondered how Mac could remember even someone by the same name, he honestly had no real idea when and where the three of them might have met.

"The very same, Specialist MacGyver. In fact it has been one of his favourite stories to tell. I'm sure you are aware that Sergeant Dalton and your reputation is still stuff of legend for the younger soldiers, your level of teamwork is the ultimate goal for our teams. After your run-in with him he apparently was inspired and completely changed his professional direction and became an EOD tech himself. A really good one, he was a highly valuable addition to our forces. I suppose that's why he chose you." Sergeant Donagan explained.

Jack's smirk was almost smug at the news while Mac just blinked in surprise. It had been years since they had served in Afghanistan after all, he hadn't expected that there even was anyone still there who remembered them.

"Indeed, I wasn't aware of that, Sergeant Donagan. It comes as a surprise, to be quite honest. It is an honour, however, to know that I inspired him as much as I did. Again, of course we will honour his wishes and bring him home to his family. I assume you already have made travel arrangements?" Mac said, looking from one soldier to the other.

"We did." Sergeant Donagan handed them each a letter. "In there are temporary IDs that will allow you entrance to the closest military airfield and the travel details. Your transport to our base in Kabul will leave tomorrow at 0800 sharp. You will stay the night at the base. Specialist Tyler Johnson and his family lived in Chicago, so the transport back there will leave the following day at the same time. After you officially transfered his mortal remains and personal effects to his family, there will be a transport arranged for you from Chicago back here. We understand that is a tight schedule by civilan standards, that's why we want to extend our thanks to you for doing this."

Neither of the three Phoenix members in the room let it show but they all fought the urge to laugh at the notion of them living anywhere close to 'civilian standard'.

Mac and Jack both nodded in understanding.

"Thank you Sergeant Donagan." Jack said softly.

"We have to thank you, Sergeant Dalton. Sergeant Donagan will travel with you to Kabul tomorrow. He will explain everything you need to know on-route. Thank you as well, Director Webber, for allowing this on such short notice. We will take our leave now." Sergeant Major Daniels said, looking at Matty.

The small woman just nodded. There never was a question that she wouldn't allow them to go, not even had there been an important mission. In that case she would have sent another team. Matty understood the bond Mac and Jack still had to their time in the Army even if they didn't talk much about it. But there was no way either of them would have declined this assignment and the last wishes of a fellow soldier.

Both her agents saluted sharply as the two soldiers left the war room. Matty followed them to accompany them to the door.

Alone again Mac immediately leaned down and pulled his son up in his arms, pressing a kiss to his hair.

"You're amazing, baby boy, thanks for waiting so patiently! I love you!" he whispered, knowing that David wouldn't really understand what he was talking about but he still felt the need to say it.

"Phew... not going to lie, that's the kind of assignment I always hoped I would never have to do..." Jack sighed, rubbing his neck tiredly, looking at the letter adressed to Sergeant Jack W. Dalton. "You really remember the kid?"

"I agree, yeah. But yes, I do remember him and I'm sure you do as well. It's been one of our last bigger missions in the Sandbox. Remember when we were called to this small village outside of Kabul where a couple of our newbies got caught up in a trap? They rigged up the door after they entered a house to clear it. I diffused that one easily enough although, I believe, you got a little impatient with me again because there were a lot of 'bad guys' you had to shoot. Anyway, we freed them but one of them stepped on a mine on our way back to base. That was Johnson. I remember him so well because I asked his name. The kid looked pretty panicked there and I needed him to calm down so he wouldn't accidentally blow us all up by moving." Mac recounted the memory, watching with satisfaction how Jack's face slowly morphed into understanding.

"Ah yes, now I remember. I was wondering how they sent us a bunch of soldiers who were so not ready for that war yet back then." Jack nodded.

"True but then, this could have happened to any of us as well... anyway, I would never have imagined that this would inspire him to become an EOD tech himself." Mac said thoughtfully.

"Well *that* doesn't surprise me at all, actually. Watching you work was and still is amazing, Mac. Now we just have to decide who will look after the little munchkin while we're gone and then, I don't know about you, but I need to check my dress uniform before we leave tomorrow."

~*~

"...and he's recently gotten a little fussy with bath time, just so you know, he tends to splash the whole room, I haven't gotten a handle on that yet, sorry... and when you put him to bed, make sure he has his dog with him or he will scream bloody murder and I mean that literally... Food is in the fridge, David's and surely something for you as well... emergency numbers are on the fridge as well and if anything seems off, call me alright? Let's see... what else..." Mac was bustling around his home early the next morning. He was on edge and everyone knew it even if nobody really understood why. Sure, Riley hadn't babysat David for more then a few hours so far but there was no reason why she shouldn't be able to handle him over night.

Mac actually had hoped that Bozer would be able to take over babysitting duties but he had an assignment at the Phoenix and Matty was busy as well. Riley was the only one of their team currently free enough to take the two days off. Something that the hacker did gladly for David but Mac was kind of driving her crazy now.

"Oh I can tell you what else, kid, if we don't get a move on now, we'll miss our transport and this whole thing is going to be redundant anyway. Riley is a big girl, she can handle it! And it's not like we're gone forever. Seriously, Mac, when did you turn into a worse helicopter parent than I already am?" Jack asked partly amused and partly incredulous.

Mac stopped abruptly and looked up at Riley and Jack with wide eyes and then visibly deflated some.

"I did, didn't I? Alright, I know... I'm sorry, Riley, it's just... you know!"

Of course Riley knew. It was her first time but more importantly it was the first time Mac would go willingly away over night, not to mention the first time Mac had to leave David behind since the whole Murdoc debacle. Obviously that was a point of trauma more for the young father than the child who had bounced back without a fuss from that experience.

"Yeah, I know... and I promise, it will be alright... I know where everything is, I know I can call you and I know Bozer might be busy in the lab but I can call him as well, should the need arise. Go, do your duty and leave everything else to me! It's going to be fine!" she said with a smile, carefully straightening his dress uniform tie.

"Of course it is, I trust you sweetheart!" Jack smiled and pressed a quick kiss to the top of her hair and one on David's as well who was sleeping soundly in her arms.

"Alright! Take care! And I'll keep my phone close, yeah?!" Mac kissed his son good-bye as well and gave Riley a half-hug before Jack dragged him out the door.

The hacker looked after them, shaking her head gently.

"Seriously, your father might really surpass Jack's overprotectiveness, little man. This will bite him in the butt at some point if you take after him." she chuckled and returned into David's room to put him into his crib again.

~*~

The child slept peacefully for two more hours, which Riley used to make herself a proper breakfast since she had a feeling that she wouldn't have the time for that when David was awake later on.

She just finished her second cup of coffee when she heared the stereo scream from David's room and through the baby monitor. It sounded like something had startled the boy awake and he wasn't happy about it.

"Oh baby boy, it's alright, nothing happened..." she whispered softly, holding David close, gently swaying from side to side.

The loud wails turned into soft whimpers and the hacker had a feeling that those wouldn't subside until the boy had a fresh diaper on, judging by the smell.

That indeed wasn't her first time either, so she didn't take long to change David and put him into a fresh set of clothes.

Riley already felt kind of accomplished because the whimpers had stopped completely and yet it seemed that the little man was extremely grumpy. Regularly looking around, as if searching for something.

Gently she tried tickling him, making faces at the same time and for a minute or so it worked but then David grumbled unintelligably again, squirming away from her hands.

"Alright, no teasing anymore, I got it!" she agreed with the child. "I guess it's time for food anyway, huh? You must be hungry now, come on, let's get some food inside you.

Not long after, feeding David turned into a bit of a mess.

"You have the eating habits of your dad, don't you?" Riley sighed as she wiped away the latest stain of pureed carrots on her shirt. Mac had told her that those were currently David's favourite and since he had already been grumpy she had thought it would cheer him up but now the small boy was just being difficult.

He ate the first three spoons alright and then had started fighting every following attempt. After four more spoons that he had eaten reluctantly after squriming around, he now was actively refusing the food. And if he actually allowed it into his mouth, then only to spit it right back at Riley.

"Alright, I think you made your point, little man... let's try that again later, shall we?" David just grumbled in response but thankfully didn't fight Riley when she carefully cleaned his face and hands and removed the bib. The hacker declared the clothes still clean enough for play time.

She let him down on his own feet and as soon as he stood properly he was off. Riley, instead of cleaning up the food stuff like she had planned, quickly followed him since she didn't want to have to explain to Mac how she had lost his son in his own house.

"David?" she called, looking around the living room.

"Da?" came a questioning call back.

"No, it's Auntie Riley, David..." she said back, looking behind the couch where the sound had come from and found the baby sitting there, building block in each hand.

"What are you doing back here, huh? Is this your hiding spot?" the woman wondered out loud but got no answer.

She felt her phone vibrate in her back pocket and prayed that it wouldn't be Mac, checking on her. Keeping a close eye on the kid, she took the call.

"Hey, I finally got to take my first break of the day... " Bozer's voice sounded tired but happy nonetheless. "This project is huge and I really hope that it'll work out on the mission."

"Hey... I'm sure it will. Good for you!" Riley smiled back.

"Well, hope dies last, right? Anyway, how's it going on your end? You two having fun?"

"Well... I wouldn't call it 'fun' exactly. We keep having disagreements... He's been grumpy ever since he woke up, not properly eating either... I think he senses that Mac is gone, he keeps looking around as if he's searching for something... and now he's sitting behind the couch, staring at the blocks he took with him." Riley recounted their morning together.

She was greeted by silence at first and then the young woman heard a soft "uh-oh".

"'Uh-oh'? What do you mean 'uh-oh'? Please tell me you just dropped your food to the floor, Boze..." Riley's stomach clenched some in anticipation of her friend's next words. Did she do something wrong?

"Ah no, I did not, it's just... David only hides back there when he's seriously upset and if you're right about him noticing Mac's absence, well that would be reason enough." Bozer explained gently.

"Right, awesome. How do I get him back out and happy again?" she asked.

"I hate to say it but that's not going to be that simple... you can push away the couch and pick him up but I promise you now that that will end in tears. Or you leave him be and keep an eye on him. At some point he will probably fall asleep and then you can get him out without him screaming the house down. Usually he doesn't really realize that you relocated him by the time he wakes up. Or you might be able to bribe him with something to drink and his favourite animal crackers. It worked for me last time. I brought him a bottle and then laid out a path with crackers. It took a bit but then he followed the line out, happily munching and forgetting why he was upset in the first place." Bozer said and Riley could hear the helpless shrug over the tinny line.

"Great... well, in that case I'll leave him for now and otherwise I'll try just that. Thanks Boze! Good luck for the project."

"Yeah thanks, you too, Riley, I have a feeling you'll need it more."

Bozer hung up after those words and the woman stared at her phone for a second incredulously.

"Way to boost a girl's confidence here... dumbo..." Riley grumble, only catching the curse word she initially had in mind at the last second. A glance at David told her that the child hadn't changed position much.

"Oh man... I thought this babysitting gig would be easy... I'd rather hack my way into any given high security network right about now, at least *there* I know what I am doing..." she sighed. "Okay David, I understand that I'm not your preferred company right now and I grant you some time to be upset about that. Just don't get yourself into trouble while auntie Riley goes and cleans up your breakfast stuff, alright?" she said.

David scrunched up his face at her, throwing down one of the blocks uncoordinatedly but luckily for Riley, didn't start crying.

Sighing and with a heavy heart she left him alone and cleaned up the kitchen, coming back out about 15 minutes later with a bottle and a small bowl of crackers just like Bozer had suggested.

She started talking to him while she set out the line of crackers, coming closer and closer to his hiding spot, telling him about the different animals and which ones were her favourites and stuff like that. Riley hoped that talking to him would distract David from being upset and direct his attention more to what she was doing. She ended with the bottle, placing it quite close to him, so that he just had to grab it and then settled in against the wall next to the couch, waiting.

It took the boy more then twenty minutes to finally grab the bottle and drink from it greedily and after that another half an hour until he was finally tempted enough by the crackers, even if he was still looking around searchingly, casting weary sideglances towards Riley.

The young woman herself slowly felt tiredness creeping up on her and she knew if she looked at Mac's schedule that David was due a nap about that time as well but looking at the baby, it didn't look like he wanted to nap any time soon.

Finally he was out of his hiding spot in his own pace and graciously, meaning without starting to cry, allowed Riley to pull him on her lap while he still nibbled on the last cracker.

"I'm sorry that you're unhappy with me here, David but your daddy is doing a very, very important job, you know and your grandpa Jack is helping him with it. They won't be gone for too long, I promise, they will be back before you know it. In the meantime us two will have some fun, yeah?" she said. "Come on..." she grabbed the two discarded building blocks and sat down with David in his play area, building up small towers that he kicked over at some point, just like she had seen Mac and Jack do a thousand times over.

That game amused David for some time but Riley could tell that he was slowing down in his reaction when she finished building the tower. Sneakily she pulled David's stuffed dog closer, hoping that the boy would succumb to sleep soon enough.

But he didn't, on the contrary, David seemed like he was purposefully jerking himself awake again and again.

"Why don't you want to sleep, huh baby boy? Sleeping is such an awesome activity." Riley murmured, grabbing the small stack of childrens books to start reading them to the baby after David had stopped entirely to react to the small towers.

After a while, Riley noticed that David had stopped jerking awake again but instead of having fallen asleep, his eyes had turned wide and awake again.

"Great, you properly skipped over nap time, didn't you?" she sighed, after finishing the last book. "Alright, once won't do any harm, yeah? It'll be our little rebellious secret. How about we try the food thing again, huh? After only eating so little for breakfast you must be starving now, despite the crackers."

She gathered the baby in her arm, where David snuggled closer to her neck. Riley took that as approval for now.

She tried another of the mashed variety of things in the fridge, thanks to Bozer but it went only barely better than in the morning. A few spoons in, David started the whole refusal process once again and turned more and more cranky.

"You're missing a good bit of sleep there, little man..." Riley murmured, giving up on the food once again. "What am I supposed to do in this case? With all the stuff your daddy had told me, that would have been helpful to know."

It took the hacker all of three seconds to realise her mistake when David first stopped and stared, then scrunched his face up in displeasure once more before ending in an ear splitting scream for his dad which turned into big crocodile tears. _Great move, Riley, you idiot. Mention his father when he's already missing him like crazy that was seriously a grade A fuck-up._

She berated herself as she grathered David in her arms again, trying hard to calm him down again.

She pulled out her phone in desperation, her finger hovering for a moment over Mac's name but then she scrolled further, hitting dial a second later.

"Yeah?" was the answer only a moment later.

"Mom! Thank god you picked up. I need your help... or some advice on something I guess..."

The line was silent for a second.

"Riley, sweetie, why is David crying bloody murder? At least I'm assuming it's David, you haven't gotten a child of your own now, have you?" Diane asked cautiously.

"Mom! Of course not! But yes, it's David and that's the reason I'm calling in the first place. He won't stop." Riley all but whined herself, quickly giving her mother a run down of the events that had led up to this point.

"Oh dear, this poor baby is definitely heartsick. He's missing his daddy... that's a hard one to distract him from, I fear. And he didn't nap, you said?" Diane sighed.

"Nope, I actually was hoping that he was slowly dropping off earlier but he actively kept himself awake. I didn't even know kids that age could do that... so what *can* I do?" the hacker asked.

"Well, let's not forget whose son we're talking about, it's not actually that common at that young an age. I mean you can try the usual things, reading to him, rocking him to sleep, some music... a bottle with warm milk. That last one might even be your best bet at the moment because it'll also help at least some with filling up what he missed when you were feeding him. Other than that, I'm sorry to say,sweetheart but you have a long night ahead of you. If I was a little closer I would come by in a heartbeat." Riley's mother said apologetically.

"Yeah, I know mom, right about now I would really be glad for some help. I'm starting to get the feeling that I'm not that good of a babysitter." Riley murmured, realising with some degree of horror that even Murdoc had apparently done a better job at babysitting David than she was doing.

"No, baby, that's not true. Anyone other than maybe Jack babysitting David in this situation would have run headlong into the same problems. It's just this situation. He's not used to not seeing his father all day long. Mac might want to work on that dependence a little when he comes back home or he'll be in trouble soon enough. You do the best you can and at some point, David will fall asleep, I'm sure. You just have to be patient with him, make sure he feels safe and cared for, that'll do the trick. And if there's anything else I can help you with, just call, alright?"

"Thanks mom, I think I might have needed to hear that and I'll make sure to tell Mac about that when he's back. I'll try with the warm milk then in a bit. And mom? I love you!" Riley said softly.

Diane huffed on the other end of the line a little.

"I love you, too, baby. Now go, take care of the baby boy! Good luck!"

"Thanks mom, talk to you soon!" Riley ended the call and turned to David in her arms again who wasn't screaming anymore but still crying heavily.

"Okay, little man. I understand, I get it. You're missing your daddy. You know what? I'll tell you a secret now and if you ever remember any of this and say it out loud, I will deny it but I'm missing my daddy as well. Well not technically my daddy, yeah you wouldn't understand the difference, so yes, I miss my daddy too. I've gotten so used to having him around all the time that now that he's away for one day, I started missing him as well. He's a handful that graddad of yours but he's been everything I ever wished for in a daddy. And I can promise you right now, David Harry MacGyver, you hit the absolute jackpot in the grandpa lottery." the woman softly said, rocking David with her.

Finally she went ahead with Mac's schedule a little ahead of time and started David's bath time.

"Okay, let's see how this goes, your dad already warned me about this..." she actually grinned when she pulled the baby out of his clothes and diaper and sat him into the a little over lukewarm water.

David hadn't really fully stopped crying all that time and whined even louder at the water, started punching his hands on it, making it splash all over the place.

Riley actually laughed out loud at that because she thought it looked too cute even if David was actively drenching her own clothes.

Her laughter seemed to startle the baby somewhat and pull him out of his spiral of misery, stopping the tears for the moment if not the splashing with the water. All things considered, that only intensified.

But Riley managed the routine, finally wrapping him in a soft towel and dressing him in a very comfy looking 'Paw Patrol' pyjama.

By the time she had returned to the living room, David had started to quietly cry again. With a sigh the young woman dropped down on the couch, settling the boy into a more comfortable position with his stuffed dog and started reading to him once again. All that accomplished was the drying of the tears, which was already awesome if you asked Riley, but David was still obviously unhappy, more than just bone tired by now but not even close to going asleep.

"Alright, I think it's time for that bottle..." Riley whispered, pressing a gentle kiss to the top of David's head. He carried him along to the kitchen, didn't want to risk upsetting him even more if she left him for that short moment to warm up the milk.

That actually was done very quickly. With the things Nikki had sent to Mac, there had been a small gadget to warm the milk bottles to a pre-set temperature and Mac had quickly decided that this was awesome and that his son wouldn't drink anything that was heated up in the microwave while he was this small. That had led to him tinkering with the bottle warmer which had kind of resulted in cutting the time it took to finish warming the bottle in half. The fast, soft 'ping' it made, when the milk had the proper temperature still startled Riley a little. Carefully she checked the milk but as always, it had the perfect temperature.

She returned to the living room, settled back in on the couch and started some soft music as well when she had handed the bottle to David, who started drinking quickly.

But even the combination of music and warm milk wouldn't send off the baby to sleep.

"Oh sweetie, I wish I could do something... I know you're tired, just let go, I'm here, okay? And when you wake up in the morning, your uncle Bozer will be home and before you know it, your daddy and grandpa will be too." Riley sighed, rocking left and right and left again.

Another half hour later Riley gave up, at least to some degree.

She pulled out her phone and opened her messaging program.

_> Hey Jack... don't let Mac know that I'm contacting you, please... sorry, I don't even have any idea what time it is for you at the moment..._

_> But I'm having some trouble with David and I don't want Mac to worry..._

_> Not that I want you to worry either, it's not that bad really, it's just... he's kind of refusing sleep since this morning... he's missing you guys so much that he actually kept himself from sleeping this afternoon and now he just can't..._

_> I tried everything already, even called my mom for help but nothing works..._

_> And he's so tired, Jack, I can see that. He's downright miserable, pretty much crying all day already..._

_> Do you have any last idea I could try? Please?_

She wrote the messages in quick succession. And Riley knew that she might come off as pretty much desperate for help now but she literally didn't care. All she cared about at this point was the small, unhappy boy in her arms who really needed some sleep.

**< Oh dear...**

**< I actually feared that something like that would happen... I've been telling Mac that he should start getting him used to not seeing his dad *all* the time, exactly for situations like this...**

**< Okay, so if you say, you tried everything already, even after calling Diane, I suppose, reading, music, warm milk and so on have failed... **

**< Well, in that case I'm kind of stumped as well, sorry, sweetheart... **

Riley's heart dropped when she read that last message ten minutes later. She honestly had put her whole trust in Jack's ability to pull some magic solution out of his hat now.

With a sigh she dropped the phone next to her, looking at David with sad eyes.

Five minutes later she got startled by another incoming message.

**< I've been thinking about this and I remembered one thing my mother told me she did when I would get like this when dad had to leave again after being home for a while.**

**< Go to Mac's room and get a shirt or sweater from the laundry basket and wrap David in it. With any luck, Mac's scent will soothe him enough to be able to fall asleep.**

"Well, little man, that's definitely worth a try, huh?" She murmured under her breathe and got slowly to her feet.

She was in luck that there were several shirts to choose from and quickly got David wrapped up in one and took another as a blanket for good measure and returned to her spot on the couch, rocking the boy gently.

She was humming softly when she finally looked down at the baby after she hadn't heared anything coming from him in a while, only to finally see him relaxed and asleep.

"Thank god..." she murmured, carefully snapping a picture of David and sent it to Jack.

_> It worked! Thanks grandpa! :)_

~*~

Dead tired as the baby had been at that point, David slept peacefully for most of the night, only waking up once for something to drink but didn't wake up enough to fully process the situation again to turn upset again. Instead he fell asleep easily again.

When Bozer came home just before dawn, pretty much dead on his feet as well, he couldn't help the soft smile and the snapping of potential blackmail pictures when he found Riley curled up in the chair next to David's crib. Even soundly asleep Bozer could see the exhaustion on the hacker's face.

Quietly he slipped into his own room and fell right onto his bed. If he was lucky he would get in a few hours before he would have to wake up again. Luckily, working for the Phoenix had trained him by now to function with little to no sleep *and* to be able to quickly drop off at any given moment, when the opportunity arose.

The remainder of the day, it turned out that having Bozer at home, who was another somewhat constant in David's life, helped a lot even if it was obvious that the boy was still deeply upset.

In comparison to the day before, however, Riley and Bozer managed to at least keep a somewhat normal schedule with only minimal crying. Bozer was definitely more successful at feeding the child and Riley gladly sacrificed another set of clothes in the evening to take over bath time, laughing together with David at the mess the boy made.

And then the two agents finally heared the most beautiful sound of the day, a key being turned in the lock.

"Look who's home again, David. Didn't I tell you they will be back before you know it?" Riley whispered softly, as she turned with the child towards the door where Mac and Jack just entered, looking both exhausted but happy to be home again.

Neither man was able to say anything before David let go of another ear splitting scream for his father, releasing all his unhappiness with loud crying.

The blond man was across the room in only a few long strides, carefully taking his son from Riley's arms, holding him close.

He looked at the hacker with a tired smile.

"Thanks Riley." he murmured and quickly disappeared into David's room to have a moment alone with his son to calm him down and just be with him. David hadn't been the only one missing someone after all.

Jack looked after them with a fond smile and then pulled Riley into a big bear hug.

"You did real good, kid! Thank you!"

Over her shoulder he looked at Bozer also.

"You too, Boze!"

"Thanks, Jack. Although Riley definitely had the harder part of the deal. Glad you're home again though." Bozer grinned, falling down on the couch with an exhausted sigh.

Riley didn't speak, she just melted into the hug like she rarely allowed herself to and soaked up the warmth of the older man. She hadn't lied after all, she had missed him too.

**Author's Note:**

> If there is anything in particular you'd like to see in future installements of this series, please do let me know. I can't promise to write everything but I'd at least try and am open for suggestions.


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